Building a shortened 20m dipole for my attic space, total length only 24 feet. Calculated 8.5μH loading coils positioned 6 feet from center feed. Using 14AWG THHN wire on 2-inch PVC forms, 15 turns per coil. Getting decent resonance at 14.1MHz but wondering if I should use a 1:1 balun at feedpoint?

With the shortened elements and loading coils, I'm concerned about common mode currents. Currently seeing 1.3:1 SWR but antenna analyzer shows some reactance. Anyone tried similar loaded dipole configurations with/without baluns?

Definitely go with the 1:1 current balun at the feedpoint. Loading coils create asymmetries that can worsen common mode issues. I built a similar 20m loaded dipole and saw significant improvement in noise floor after adding the balun.

Those loading coil positions sound about right for best efficiency. Try winding on air-wound forms if possible - the PVC has some dielectric losses at HF. A simple 5-turn coax choke on FT240-43 works great as a current balun.

What's the Q of those loading coils? With 15 turns on 2-inch forms you might be getting pretty narrow bandwidth. I'd measure the actual inductance and maybe try fewer turns with tighter spacing to maintain the same L value but improve Q.